the obama administration called them sham sessions. they were begun first in 2007 by the democrats in order to block president bush from making conservative appointments. then the republicans followed suit and had these so-called sham session where is they just meet for like three one senator would be in the chamber for three minutes. they would say that was a real session and that means that the senate is in recess. president obama said that's ridiculous. they're sham sessions and it should not prevent me from making appointments. the republicans have fought very hard to block any democratic appointment to the nlrb. they madeso the president felt that to have a functioning, working nrb to oversee labor relations between companies and unions, he needed to make these appointments. >> jennifer: of course, but it goes beyond that. richard cordray was not part of the case, but he was appointed director of the consumer protection bureau on that same day that these other two were. what could that mean for him? >> so it looked very much like